Liquid water found flowing on Mars?

[Kalyan]

Liquid water found flowing on Mars?

New York, Mar 01: Researchers claim to have found no trace of liquid water on mars, casting doubt on an earlier research which indicated presence of bright spots in soemartian gullies.

"It rules out pure liquid water," according to lead researcher Jon D. Pelletier of the University of Arizona.

Pelletier and his colleagues used topographic data derived from images of Mars from the high resolution imaging science experiment (HIRISE) camera on Nasa`s Mars reconnaissance orbiter.

The researchers applied the basic physics of how fluid flows under Martian conditions to determine how a flow of pure liquid water would look on the HIRISE images versus how an avalanche of dry granular debris such as sand would look.

"The dry granular case was the winner. I was surprised. I started off thinking we were going to prove its liquid water," Pelletier said.

Added co-researcher Alfred S. Mcewen: "finding liquid water on the surface of mars would indicate the best places to look for current life on mars. What we`d hoped to do was rule out the dry flow model -- but that didn`t happen."

According to the researchers, an avalanche of dry debris is a much better match for their calculations and also what their computer model predicts. "Right now the balance of evidence suggests that the dry granular case is the most probable," Pelletier said.

They added that their research does not rule out the possibility that the images show flows of very thick mud containing about 50 percent to 60 percent sediment. Such mud would have a consistency similar to molasses or hot lava. From orbit, the resulting deposit would look similar to that from a dry avalanche.